According to the Regulator of Social Housing’s recent quarterly survey, social housing providers’ spending on repair and maintenance was just over half that during the same period in 2019, mainly due to lockdown. Many landlords have been trying to catch up with a backlog of maintenance work, including dealing with condensation and mould problems. However, the clock is ticking for landlords as the weather cools in the UK making residents more likely to keep windows closed eliminating natural ventilation and allowing condensation to thrive. Condensation and mould can wreak havoc on both housing stock and residents’ respiratory heath, it is therefore vital for landlords to deal with it to help protect vulnerable residents and comply with the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act. Landlords will therefore be pleased to know that experts like Airtech are available to help them tackle condensation and mould.
Condensation and mould lead to poor indoor air quality (IAQ) which can have health consequences for households, made even more serious by the Coronavirus pandemic which adversely affects those with existing health conditions. Social housing landlords have a duty of care to their residents to control condensation and mould and provide good IAQ. Airtech can help landlords meets this duty of care by offering comprehensive property surveys to identify condensation, damp and mould problems and recommendations to solve the issues; mould removal treatment and redecoration and a full ventilation installation service for both responsive and planned maintenance. The treatment and mould removal is backed by a unique three-year guarantee that the mould will not return.
“All properties require good ventilation to prevent the formation of condensation and mould and to provide residents with good IAQ to protect their health. Airtech offers landlords the correct solution for each individual property, including an installation service, meaning residents can say goodbye to condensation and mould for good” said James Kane from Airtech. “For social housing landlords, condensation and mould can be a persistent and costly problem, but it’s possible to break the cycle. At Airtech we’ve built an enviable reputation for expert knowledge and experience of condensation, damp and mould control. And our unique datalogging ventilation products are a great tool for landlords in both fighting condensation and mould and defending disrepair cases.”
Boasting patented market-leading ventilation technology that improves resident comfort and efficiency, Airtech can offer landlords the correct solution for individual properties. This can range from the Air+ Loft Positive Input Ventilation (PIV) and Air+ Wall PIV units to the environment sensing bathroom and kitchen fans, such as the SA25 SELV, the SA60 SELV and the SA64. Plus, Airtech’s unique control and datalogging ventilation products, the DataFan range including the DA25, DA60 and DA64, will record details of a home’s environment, such as humidity and temperature levels to allow the landlord or contractor to track and analyse the correlation of these variables together on one graph. This will allow a landlord to clearly track the effects changing lifestyle habits have on a home environment. It will also demonstrate how reducing relative humidity through adequate heating and ventilation can maintain a healthy home. Airtech’s sophisticated datalogging allows landlords to interrogate saved IAQ data thus giving peace of mind.
Hand-in-hand with the datalogging, Airtech’s specialist control platform monitors the data as it is collected and modulates the fan accordingly to react automatically and proportionally to rising humidity levels, offering quick and effective humidity control. This ensures the resident keeps the optimum environment in the home to avoid condensation forming, thus helping maintain good IAQ.
Airtech also runs free CPD training courses to help landlords understand the difference between damp and mould, health implications, causes and consequences as well as solutions and datalogging. This training helps ensure landlords know how to break the cycle of condensation and mould, thus protecting both residents and their housing stock. Airtech also supplies free mould information leaflets when working with a social housing provider so residents understand why they should not dry washing indoors or pile clothes or other items against an external wall. Plus, Airtech provides a Freephone customer care helpline for residents to seek advice on its ventilation products.
For more information call 01823 690 292 email info@airtechsolutions.co.uk.